Air India suspends plans for Tel Aviv flights

The refusal of Arab countries to allow the Indian carrier to fly over their countries makes the route uneconomic.

Air India has suspended plans to launch Tel Aviv - New Delhi flights. In March the Indian carrier announced that it was launching three weekly flights this month but it is now reconsidering its plans after failing to receive permission to fly over a range of Arab and Muslim countries.

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An Air India official said that the refusal of countries like Saudi Arabia to grant overflight permission has made a five hour flight into an eight hour flight and makes the route uneconomic. Air India is thus considering completely scrapping the idea of flying to Tel Aviv.

This is good news for El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL), which offers the only direct flights between Israel and India on its Tel Aviv - Mumbai route. It is bad news for Israeli tourists, most of who fly to India indirectly via Istanbul, Moscow and Tashkent.